Kinross 2

Project Background

The clients were downsizing from two larger properties into one small new build with a very modest garden. Both are keen gardeners and there was a long list of must-have’s and nice-to-have’s in the garden designer’s brief!  The plot was typical of new builds, with grassed slopes front and back and high fencing. The clients wanted a plant-filled outdoor room to extend their living space, both visually and practically. Our job was to make that happen.

Landscaping Notes

The first challenge was to get the digger into the back garden – it was a bit of a squeeze, but we managed it!  The new garden has four level different levels: the shed terrace in the top left corner (the highest part of the garden), evening drinks terrace (in the top right corner), raised lawn and large dining patio next the house, plus wide paths and ramps, a garden utility area and a wide stet of steps from patio to lawn. A large bubbling stone in front of a stone-clad panel creates a great visual feature, both on the dining patio and from the inside of the house. The materials used in the garden included softwood sleeper retaining walls (which double as informal seating in the areas of the garden), black stained trellis panels in front of the existing fences (some with acrylic mirror behind), Indian sandstone paving, concrete block retaining walls faced with Indian sandstone walling blocks and Indian sandstone setts to form the two ramped pathways between the lower and higher levels. We started at the top, creating the higher levels and retaining walls, and worked our way down. Luckily one of the neighbours asked us to do some work for them too so we were able to move the digger into the next door garden by removing a fence panel. The front garden was also landscaped, using sleeper retaining walls to create a level gravel area with a bench under the front window – a sunny spot in the mornings. Once the build was complete, the clients planted up the garden with the help of the garden designer.

Testimonial

“Hard to believe the transformation that Lee and his team made to our new build home garden. It was certainly boring, laid to lawn by the builders and fenced all around. With garden design plan in hand, Lee, David and Lewis set to in rain wind and shine…more rain than anything else! Their work is of a very high professional standard, carried out in a careful way with laser precision and now with WOW results! Lee promised a Chelsea plot and both he and the designer of the garden certainly delivered to a gold medal standard” 

This garden was designed by Belinda Macdonald from Shades of Green Garden Design (now retired).